Cover Judgment

Hello Dewey Readers!

Today I would like to ask you all a very serious question.  Do you judge books by their covers?  

While I was scrolling through the #Bookstagram (follow @fortheloveofdewey !!) I came across a #bookstagrammer who posted a photo of a book, claiming it was the first time she ever read a book because she fell in love with the cover.  This made me pause.  I nearly ALWAYS choose my books by their covers.  I know what you're all thinking.  But Jessica, you're a librarian.  How dare you!  Isn't that book blasphemy!?  It is and it isn't. 

I love my books.  I love lining them up, I love carrying them with me, I love staring at them on my book shelves, and I absolutely adore wandering the aisles of book stores and libraries.  I'm a book addict who can't go on a vacation without visiting all the local libraries.  But I also feel like just as much as I want to love what's inside the pages, I wan't to enjoy looking at, touching, and carrying my books with me.    

Do I always love the books who's covers I'm attracted to?  Not always.  Do I ever regret giving a book a try no way.  If I have a choice between two different editions of the same book, I'll always go for the one who's cover I like better.  Life is too short to not enjoy being with books you love.  But will I read books who's covers I do love based on recommendations and merit?  You bet I will, I just might not go out of my way and choose them on my own.  

So Dewey Readers please tell us, do you judge books by their covers!? 

~Jessica 

After by Anna Todd (After)- Reshelved Books

Happy Thursday, Deweys!

The weekend is almost *here*!  It's supposedly going to be raining all weekend up here.  You know what that means: more reading! More reading = more reviews in the coming weeks. 

I would like to start off this review by saying that MB is a trooper.  He is very much a trooper.  Not only did he watch Crazy Rich Asians with me two weeks ago (as I babbled for the better part of the movie) but we went to see After this week. 

Image from IMDB

Mind you, MB and me were the only people nearing 30 at the theater.  MB was one of 3 guys in the theater.  To see that I was mortified to what I was about to put him through would be an understatement.  (He'll gladly confirm that I was a nervous wreck for no reason other than that I could be).

Here is MB's review of the movie:

Image from Amazon

"The movie was pretty good. Just the characters were kinda all jerks at first but luckily they all changed at the end. Except for the friends. They were all horrible people". (I changed the previous word used to 'jerks' since this is a family friendly blog after all!) “I would give this 2.75 popcorn kernels. It wasn’t quite a 2 or a 3.”

My review of the movie: (from 4/19/19 - the book is supposedly being delivered today!)

Aside from being mortified throughout the entire movie, it was pretty good! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Without having the read the book: I would give it 3.5 kernels out of 5.  I wouldn't watch it again- even after I read the book.  It was okay.  I thought Hardin was kinda creepy...? Tess, she was okay - not my favorite character but eh.  Molly though, oh my.  She was really too much.  She was an obvious antagonist! 

I would like it to be known that I ordered the book before I saw the movie.  Sadly, the book did not get here in time.  So, I got to see the movie first.  I was only going into the movie with this knowledge: It was the most viewed Wattpad story and it's a fan fiction based on Harry Styles.  I knew nothing else about the book and I knew nothing else about the movie.

Now, back in the day (the first year the blog was up and running time frame), I would try to see if I could find articles to quote showing that the author’s inspiration was. I did this both for my curiosity and to help plump up the review. I stopped because life got rather busy. I decided for this review, I was going to try and bring that back! I was definitely interested in knowing more about the inspiration behind this phenomenon. 

From what I found, Todd was a huge fan of One Direction and a fan of the fan fiction that was inspired by the boys of 1D. According to The Atlantic, (you can access the article here), Todd was growing impatient with waiting for these authors to post (That's not the best word but it's what comes to mind).

I know that the story was influenced by Harry Styles (Hardin) BUT did anyone notice that Hardin has a friends: Zed, Nate, Logan, AND a step-brother named Landon?? Was this Todd's way to inserting Zayn, Niall, Liam and Louis?? (OR was Tristan supposed to be representative of Louis because his last name starts with a T like Tristan does?)

I found myself thinking the two following thoughts: 
1. Run, Tessa, RUN from Hardin! He's not stable. I can see the appeal of a bad boy but it's a known fact that bad boys are very very hard to change.
2. Oh my God. Only someone who's in their late teens and early 20s could tolerate this type of relationship.

They had a torrid love affair. In addition to the fighting, there was a ton of gas lighting.  This book is not the example of a relationship that anyone would want to be in.

Maybe this is the mom in me or maybe it's the 29 year old in me but I would have liked to tell Tessa that she needs to walk away.  That for her sanity, it would be best if she removed herself from the situation and walked away.  Someone like Hardin wasn't worth it.  Wasting her time on him wasn't going to be worth it in the long run. 

Not to mention the amount of yelling that was in this book! It was CRAZY! It seemed like Tessa was always yelling at Hardin.  If she wasn't yelling at Hardin, he was being a total jerk toward her.  They were constantly fighting- it wasn't good fighting either.  Their fights would then end in these lust filled encounters- again, another thing that you really don't want to strive for in a relationship. (Did the book really need to be 582 pages?? No. It was horrible redundant at many points)

I will say that the end of the book is like the end of the movie (the evidence and the catalyst would be the only things that were different).  Molly is the same horrible person in the movie that she is in the book. Tessa's jealously toward her was off the charts! 

I would give this book 3.5 coffee beans out of 5.  Which is generous.  If you're over the age of 23-24, I don't think that you're going to enjoy this too much.  It was just too much.  The yelling was too much- Hardin was too much. 

Does this mean that I won't be reading the second book? Absolutely not! I will be ordering the second book from Amazon tonight.  I would like to know what happens. I'm interested in knowing what Zed has to say to Tessa about what happened. 

Stay tunes for more thoughts on the After Series!

~ Jillian

Heartburn by Nora Ephron - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

I recently just finished the e-audiobook version Nora Ephron's book Heartburn, narrated by

Meryl Streep.  If you read my earlier post Audiobooks vs. Print Books, you'd know that I have strict criteria when it comes to choosing which audiobooks to read.   While this book is fiction, it is only 6 hours long, was for my Read It & Eat book club, is narrated by a celebrity, and is funny thus making the cut to be read via my car's audio system. 

Let me tell you this book is HILARIOUS.  I loved listening the Meryl Streep narrate the main character and I left feeling like she was a friend inside my head... or at least a personality on the radio.  I could not wait to get back into my car to listen to more.  Isn't that what we all wish for in an audiobook?   

So, a bit about the book.  Seven month pregnant, Rachel finds out that her husband is having an affair.  But not only is he having an affair with a woman they were both sort of friendly with, he also claims to be in LOVE with her.  This novel is all about her finding out about her husband, living with heartbreak, pregnancy, and taking it all with a humorous and sarcastic twist mixed in with some yummy recipes.  Trust me, if you listen to this book, you will devour it. 

I give it 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica

Certain Genres for Certain Seasons? - For the Love of Dewey Thoughts

Tuesday morning

I found myself in the bookstore.  

I was on the quest! 

On the quest for a good romance novel!

I found what I was looking for.  I purchased two books that, for me at least, are not something I'd usually go for...

Romance!

Now, I'm not talking about YA romance.  No, no.  I'm talking about romance!  The genre were Debbie Macomber, RaeAnne Thayne, and Sarah Morgan inhabit the shelves.  Just to name a few authors. 

I bought 2 books from Susan Mallery: Secrets of the Tulip Sisters and Not Quite Over You.

I didn't realize that Not Quite Over You was the LAST book (to date?) in Mallery's Happily, Inc. series... I thought it was the first one.... Needless to say, I will be reading this series in the reverse order.... 

As I digress.

The question I present to you all is this: Do you have a certain genre that you favor during one time of the year? I.E. some times the best beach reads are mysteries! 

Let me know what you guys think below! You can also let us know on our IG. (Just click on the picture that matches this post up there to your left! Follow us there while you're at it!!)

Catch ya later with some new reviews!

~ Jillian

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

I am super excited to be able to review an ARC of Megan Miranda's latest novel The Last House Guest.  This book is a psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Girl on the Train.

So a bit about the book. Littleport, Maine is a summer town.  When a friendship blossoms between a summer girl named Sadie and the year rounder named Avery, it's a little unexpected, but they remain good friends for close to ten years.  Then Sadie is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the ocean, and the police believe it to be a suicide.  Flash forward years later and Avery is in the family home (she's employed by them as vacation property management) when she finds Sadie's cellphone.  It is a phone that the police were never able to recover.

So was Sadie's death a suicide?  Was it a murder?  And if so, is the murderer still out there watching them all?  I guess you'll have to read the book to find out.  

My thoughts without giving it all away? This novel was a quick read, but I think that I fell in love with the cover more than I fell in love with the prose inside.  I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.   

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians) - Reshelved Books

What's that saying: April Showers bring book reviews??
No.  That's not the saying but it should be!

Behold: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

Also copied from Amazon

Copied from Amazon

Last weekend, me and MB got the chance to sit down and watch Crazy Rich Asians. At the time, he also pointed out that my blogger responsibilities have seriously been slacking (not in those words but you get the idea. He’s not wrong there, they have been slacking).

This was a movie that I knew I wanted to see, I just never got to it in the theater. I patiently waiting for it come out on DVD and for my library to acquire it. 

Shout out to MB for not only watching the movie with me BUT letting me break down the book and the movie. (I got to talk during the movie AND almost ruin it. haha)

I felt that in the beginning, the movie and the book almost mirrored each other. 
As time went on, they didn't mirror much anymore. Which makes sense, like with Ready Player One, if the movie was *exactly* like the book, it would be several hours long. 

Ready for this?  

I liked the movie so much more than I liked the book! Right before Araminta and Colin got married in the book, is where I stopped.  It became too confusing for me.  The perspectives from characters were changing, there were just too many characters to keep track of.  It wasn't neat and tidy, which for the most part is how I like the characters in a book to be.  Easy to follow always wins. 

I believe that this is why I liked the movie better!  The characters were easy to follow.  Every character from the book wasn't being represented in the movie.  I feel that characters from the book were merged together to create one character in the movie; combining traits from a lesser character in the book and adding them to a bigger character from the book for the movie. 

The ending of the book and the ending of the movie are SO DIFFERENT!!

I prefer the ending of the movie. I also think that movie Rachel and Nick are far less annoying than book Rachel and Nick.  I, however, find Astrid to be my favorite character and I'm rooting for her. 
I had major a love hate relationship with the book though. Let me tell you!  I stopped reading the book because I started to hate it (please refer to above for reasoning).  Having picked the book back up this week, the more I read, the more that I liked it again. 

Hands down, the movie gets 5 kernels out of 5. 
The book? Well, because I liked it enough to be sad it was over AND to want run out and get China Rich Girlfriend, I give the book 4 coffee beans out of 5.  

~ Jillian

The Public (movie) - For the Love of Dewey: Special Review!

Hey all!

As you all are aware, Jessica and I work in libraries.  For the last year or so (after learning about the movie from a shared co-worker), we have known about the movie The Public starring Emilio Estevez and Michael Kenneth Williams.

You can check out the movie trailer above.

The last year for us was waiting for this movie to come out with baited breath.  Last week, the movie came out and we *finally* went to see it last night with some co-workers.  

The 5 of us were the only ones in the theater.  It was almost like a private viewing!

The libraries where we work are different from the (Cincinnati) Main Library but at the same time, there are a lot of similarities.  We don't work in major cities and our libraries don't have on site security.  We also don't have a stuffed polar bear that is in our entrance way because the natural history museum is under renovation. 

We do get phone calls from patrons that start off "I have a question..." what the question might be, is anyone's guess! We have patrons that become our friends because we see them so much.  We have patrons who fall on hard times.  Libraries are a lot more than just books- sometimes that a notion that people are quick to forget.  

Jillian's Review: 
I found the movie to be good. It was realistic to what we see at work (while not to the same degree or caliber per say).  I liked how the movie focused on homelessness, I felt like this was important.  It sheds light on something that isn't addressed (which is a point that Michael Kenneth Williams' character brings up too). The one thing I wished for was that there was closure.  I felt like the ending was a little undone.  After expressing this to a co-worker, she said that she felt the same thing but that another co-worker has explained that was the best way for the movie to end. Why? Because you didn't know how something like that was going to handle from one municipality or state to the next.
I would give this movie 3.75 popcorn kernels out of 5!

Jessica's Review:
I don't really like movies or going to the movies.  In fact, I really only usually watch movies if I have to. BUT I LOVED THIS MOVIE.  This movie tackles homelessness in the library, while not to the extent as described in the movie, it is something that I have dealt with for 8 years in my first library job (shelving books around homeless men sleeping, learning how to communicate with people who suffer from mental illness and schizophrenia, learning what to do when a patron smells to the point where other patrons complain, etc.).  Although, now that I think about it, we did have a naked lady cooking string beans in the bathroom once...But that's a story for another time.  I was so happy to have a movie that I could relate to from the patron interactions to the "Oh you work in a library?  They still have those?  Must be nice to sit and read all day..." comments all of us library workers deal with.

In addition to patron questions and homelessness, this movie also tackled the concept of fake news and how what you see or hear on television is nearly always someone else's opinion.  Anything and everything can be twisted from the angle you view it, to the words someone says.  Libraries help to shed the truth behind these opinions.  I give this movie 5 out of 5 kernels.  I want to take everyone in my family to see it again.  WHY AREN'T THERE MORE MOVIES ABOUT LIBRARIES OUT THERE!?     

When You Read This by Mary Adkins - Reshelved Books

Hey there Dewey Readers!

I recently finished Mary Adkins' book When You Read This.  This book is a piece of expository writing written in the form of e-mail correspondence. 

This novel is a bout a young professional woman named Iris Massey who finds out she is dying from cancer.  A heavy topic, made lighter by the form in which it is written, and especially by the junk e-mails that randomly pop up and give the reader a little bit more insight into the personal nuances of the characters.  For comfort during this time, she turns to writing her emotions out on a blog, who's posts also are included within the book as well.

This book is about the end of life, and about how those who were touched by that life are forever affected.  It is about learning to come to peace with tragedy and also learning to be grateful for the moment.  It is also a quick read that is excellently written and one that I give 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica